Whangārei police dog stabber has prison sentence reduced

Adam Tipene, who stabbed a police dog in the head, has had his prison sentence reduced on appeal. Photo / File

The Court of Appeal has reduced the prison sentence of a Northlander who fled from police at high speed and only hours later stabbed a police dog in the head twice.

Adam Tipene, a forestry worker from Whangārei, was sentenced to five years and three months' jail after pleading guilty to a raft of charges halfway through a jury trial early last year.

The Court of Appeal has slashed three months off that sentence and quashed the minimum period of imprisonment of 60 per cent imposed by the Whangārei District Court.

Tipene, 33, appealed against his sentence on the basis that the starting point of four and a half years for aggravated robbery was excessive. No allowance was made for mitigating factors detailed in a report prepared for sentencing, and the imposition of a minimum period of imprisonment was unnecessary.

Tipene was spotted driving a stolen car on Bank St in central Whangarei about 2am on December 22, 2018. He had failed a drug test on his release from jail and knew there was a warrant for his arrest.

If he was caught, he wouldn't be able to spend Christmas with his children and family.

He fled from the town centre towards Whangarei Heads, reaching speeds of up to 140km/h and repeatedly stopped and tried to reverse into the following police vehicles.

Eventually Tipene crashed and fled into the bush. A search by police dog handler Constable Josh Van Der Kwaak and Caesar, who had qualified just two weeks before and were on their first night shift, failed to find Tipene.

But later that morning, police got a 111 call from a petrified woman reporting a strange knife-wielding man in the house they were looking after on Owhiwa Rd, near Parua Bay.

Tipene was on the roof of the house and failed to comply with Van Der Kwaak's orders so he sent Caesar after him. During the trial, Van Der Kwaak told the jury how Tipene had been foaming at the mouth and stabbed the newly qualified police dog in the head twice with a kitchen knife.

He thought Caesar was going to be bludgeoned to death.

Police dog Caesar and Constable Van Der Kwaak were instrumental in the arrest of Adam Tipene. Photo / Supplied

Eventually, Tipene was arrested with the help of the man at the house and Sergeant Brown, who arrived at the property.

The Court of Appeal judges said the seriousness of Tipene's offending must be recognised but they were not satisfied that the imposition of a minimum term of imprisonment took into account his apparent motivation to address his drug addiction.

"We accept that the prospects of success are difficult to predict but, in the absence of any previous convictions for violence, apart from a conviction for assault, for which he was convicted and discharged some 10 years ago, it is not apparent that either deterrence or the protection of the public should prevent the Parole Board from considering Mr Tipene's eligibility for parole in the normal way," the judges said.